Ron is commemorated on panel 59, column 3 of the Portsmouth Naval War
Memorial. (Southsea Common) I have just found out that Ron's best mate aboard
Barham died with him that day, HE was William R (Lofty) ARSCOTT RMB/X572;
Joined HMS Barham from the Royal Marine School of Music on 3rd May 1938 (the
same day as Ron), Subsequently lost his life serving aboard the Barham when the
ship was torpedoed on the 25th November 1941. His photo can be seen on the
Survivors Website, BELOW is A photo of the Band, Ron is front row looking left
to right he is 8th with a violin (He was also a claranet player and piano),
photo supplied by Don Sims who is back row 3rd from the left, Smuts (Smith) who
sent the copy is back row 3rd in from the left (French Horn). Don Sims and Smuts
are the only two survivors of the Band.
On 24th November 1941, Queen Elizabeth, BARHAM and Valiant, with an
escort of eight destroyers, sailed from Alexandria to cover operations against
two enemy convoys reported to be making for Benghazi. On the following day, at
l6.25 hours, Barham was torpedoed by the German submarine U-331, which,
undetected, had penetrated the destroyer screen. The submarine fired four
torpedoes, three of which detonated on Barham's port side, between the funnel
and 'Y' turret. She quickly listed to port and, after a pause of a few seconds,
at an angle of 40 degrees, turned onto her beam ends.
Four minutes after the torpedoes had struck, the after 15inch
magazines exploded and vented through the upperdeck and the starboard side.
The ship was hidden by an enormous cloud of smoke, and when this
cleared, she had gone. Barham's Captain, G. C. Cooke, and 86l officers and men
were lost with the ship. ViceAdmiral PridhamWippell and 395 members of the
crew were rescued.
The exact cause of the explosion of the ship's magazines could not be
established because of the rapidity with which she had sunk. The Court of
Inquiry put forward the theory that a fire might have started in the after port
4inch magazine, and subsequently, spread to the main magazines. After the
torpedoes had struck, the internal lighting and communication systems failed,
and no general orders were received because the broadcasting system failed.
Barham was operating the correct degree of watertight subdivision for
cruising, but she listed too quickly for any effective countermeasures to be
carried out.
THE BARHAM DISASTER, Eye Witness Account.
From The Hampshire Genealogy Society Journal
When Michael HOBBS of Southampton read an article in the May 1987 issue
of the Hampshire Genealogy Society Journal about the sinking of HMS Barham, he
dug out his late father's diary which contained the following eye-witness
account:
Tuesday November 25th 1941
The Sinking of HMS BARHAM as seen from HMS VALIANT
By RA Hobbs P/LX 24748
The day was rather cloudy but sunny and the water was calm, typical of
the Mediterranean even in November. The RN Eastern Mediterranean Fleet,
comprising of three battleships, the QE, Barham and Valiant with a screen of destroyers,
under the flag of Admiral Cunningham, were proceeding westward in the hope of
finding and destroying any enemy attempts to convey men and materials to Libya
for the present campaign.
Up to now the Navy has been very successful without loss or damage.
During the day we had had several enemy aircraft following us and approaching
at a safe distance, with AA crews continually at their posts and supply parties
continuously running to their stations and using the traditional language that
only the Navy can get away with at times like this. For all that the forenoon
and the afternoon watch went by without anything happening and we were all
looking forward to our return to Alexandria the next morning.
It was at about 4.40, (1640 hrs) when all of a sudden the battleships
suddenly swerved into a single line abreast position, and as the evolution was
beginning there was three sharp reports, thinking a submarine had been located
and Depth Charges were being dropped, all of a sudden a rating rushing through
the alleyway shouted "The Barham's been hit". We all rushed up on
deck expecting to find her unable to make any headway and a slight list, but
the three explosions were too much at short range and too strong for any
water-tight doors. After rolling to Starboard, she turned over to Port with a
list of about 15 degrees and greatly increasing. The sub after firing, shot to
the surface and the Valiant was only just unable to ram it owing to the turning
evolution, but was immediately engaged and decisively hit by S1 Pom Pom. She
immediately crash-dived and no one saw her again, by the way she dived she was
making straight for the Barham. In the meantime the Barham was listing heavily
and now at an angle of about 30 degrees. Evidently Abandon ship had been given
because ratings were sliding down the ship's side which by now were almost
flush with the water. A remarkable sight was to see the Officers on the Bridge
hanging on as if on a parallel bars. Aboard her there was no sign of panic and
everything was quite orderly. It was a vivid and horrible sight seeing men
jumping, diving and getting rid of what clothes they could before going into
the water. By now she was almost at an angle of 90 degrees, and she was falling
fast. As soon as the funnel touched the water there was an explosion most
terrific and horrific as ever could be seen. Debris and everything was flung
hundreds of feet into the air in a column of thick black smoke. One of the
15" turrets was see to be flung at least 100' into the air. It was a horrible
sight seeing human life being flung and blown to hell in a few seconds.
Destroyers raced in against the smoke, survivors seemed to be very few, in a
few minutes the smoke was cleared and not a sign of the ship remained, where
had been the HMS Barham.
May God bless all those who went down with her to her glorious end. The
destroyers, all bar four, searched around for survivors, but the remainder of
the fleet sailed placidly on as if nothing had happened, a remarkable thing in
the Royal Navy. Still steering Westward, almost incidentally afterwards we had
a repel aircraft warning and then typical of the Axis powers they tried to get
the Destroyers who were saving life. The attack lasted almost an hour, but no
damage or casualty were reported. During the evening and night various reports
came through regarding their number of survivors and at the time of pipedown,
just over 280 had been reported saved.
The night was uneventful, although on board we all seemed in a daze
with the reaction of such a horrible sight. Just before arriving at Alexandria
we were all glad to hear that 300 had been picked up including 15 Officers and
the Admiral. So ends another of Britain's glorious ships. To think a ship could
sink in 8 minutes like that has to be seen to be believed. Another epic in
Naval history is closed, but all credit must be given to the U Boat CO for his
daring courageous duty, it was a gallant act Nazi or no Nazi. Revenge is
certain with the Royal Navy, we have 2 scores to settle now the "Ark Royal
" and "Barham" and they will be arranged and without loss
(but I never want to see another sight like that again).
Note
In his book "Battleship Barham" Geoffrey Jones states that
the survivors from Barham were rescued only by the destroyers Hotspur and
Nizam, who took 186 and 168 respectively; yet the Admiralty state there were
396 survivors. Including in those killed were Ronald Charles John Jerrard RM
Band and Ord. Seaman Tom Jerrard. Ronald was my father's brother; if you have
any details of Tom Jerrard please let me know.
There were an escort of 8 destroyers - I believe the escorts were ,
Decoy,(Daring Class?), Hasty, Hotspur, (Hotspur Class) Jackal, Jervis, Nizam,
(Javelin Class) Griffin ("G" Class) and, possibly Kipling?, also a
Javelin class; Griffin Jervis and Napier were certainly the nearest - if you
can confirm the others please tell me.
Hotspur picked up survivors. In April 1942 "The Fleet" published a list of those lost with
Barham. I have a copy plus a list of the Royal Marine losses - a total of 134
Royal Marines were lost, only 34 survived. Many., including bandsmen would have
been in the Magazines at the time, they would have had little chance of escape.
HMS Barham was sunk by U 331 under the command of Baron Hans Dietrich
Von Tiesenhausen, his Boat was later sunk on 17 November 1942 at 37-05N,
02-24E, (in the Med).
A
Midshipman's War (contains a chapter on the sinking of Barhan as seen from HMS
Queen Elizabeth. Excellent photos.
Built by Devonport Dockyard. Laid Down 16 March 1926. Launched 22
October 1927. Completed 18 March 1929. Training ship 1947-1953. Broken up by
Cashmore, Newport, 1954. She was the oldest ship present at the 1953 Fleet
Review.